JUST WATCHED

Dengue fever hits China

MUST WATCH

Story highlights

Southern China is suffering from its worst outbreak of dengue fever in two decades

Last week, 1,000 new cases of the mosquito-borne disease emerged each day

Other Asian countries are also grappling with outbreaks of the virus.

Climate change and urbanization help the disease spread

Southern China is suffering from its worst outbreak of dengue fever in two decades, with 1,000 new cases of the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease emerging each day, according to official media reports.

Local health authorities in China warned the situation was "severe," with six deaths and 21,527 infections recorded in Guangdong province in southern China by Sunday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Malaysia and Taiwan have reported more cases and deaths in 2014 than in previous years, and Japan has seen more than 150 infections in its first outbreak of the tropical disease since 1945, according to news agency Kyodo.

And a new study released this week found that dengue cases in India may be 300 times the number officially reported. The disease costs the country at least $548 million a year.